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Captain's Log: We've arrived at Planet 298 to investigate a possible threat to the humanoid society that inhabits the planet. Their technological level is near that of Earth in the late 20th century. They have a curiosity about what lies in the stars, but have not achieved warp travel. There has been no contact with outside beings. The Prime Directive applies, however, Starfleet suspects that there are outside forces at work on the planet, as it is rich in resources. Our mission is to find out if and who is meddling in the society of this planet and stop them, without the people of this planet realizing anything beyond their world has been at work there. We will be sending three small away teams, to blend in into the world and assess what is happening. The traditions of this world vary somewhat from those of human culture, though they look much like humans do. In their society polyamorous relationships are the norm, and anyone not in one, is viewed as lacking in social skill and ability, thus our teams will be posing as a bonded relationship groups, passing through a populous community that has influence on the global community of their world where outside influences appear to be at work. Their arrivals will be staggered by a few days each, with different origins and setting up in different areas of the community.
**
Team One arrived first, and took up residence near the central part of the city, and set up some surveillance, including some video and audio in places, and had compiled a list of suspicious persons by the time Team Two arrived a week later. Team Two's designated residence, composed of Captain Rogers, Lieutenant Lewis, and Ensign Pietro Maximoff, was placed in a different part of town from Team One, and across the road from one of the suspicious parties flagged by Team One. Team Three, would arrive a few days after that, and set up in another part of town, near another of the suspicious parties.
Perhaps the oddest part of the mission was having to pretend to be in some kind of relationship with not just one, but two other people. Steve, Darcy, and Pietro were all acquainted, but none of them were close. Pietro had arrived aboard ship less than a year ago. He'd asked Darcy out early on in his assignment aboard the USS Marvel, and they'd had one slightly awkward date, after which he didn't ask her out again. Darcy figured he wasn't interested, and she had felt kind of okay about that, though it occasionally gnawed at her mind. He was nice, even still said hello to her in the corridors, but never seemed to stop to talk. He always seemed to be in a hurry. It had only served to make her feel more awkward around him. Steve was the captain, and she was mentally trying to stop herself from calling him 'Captain' every time she spoke to him since arriving on planet. She worked around him often enough, but despite his good looks, she had forced herself not to think of him like that, seeing as he was the commanding officer. Having a crush on the commanding officer didn't seem like a good idea. All of that got more complicated while they were sharing a small apartment with two bedrooms, a couch, and one bathroom. The first three mornings she'd had them both parading past her in nothing but their underwear, and Darcy was trying not to stare.
Pietro had already done that cocky head nod, and winked at her, at least a dozen times in just the three days between their arrival and Team Three's, and kept smiling at Darcy the way he had that time he'd asked her out. She didn't know what it meant, but she was trying to keep her head on her work. The good part of the first few days, was there was a lot of solo work. Each of them leaving at slightly different times and going off to different places to observe and investigate. Pietro's speed allowed him to get out to the outskirts of town, where some of the natural resources were, have a look around and get back in short order.
Darcy was actually enjoying spending her first few days on the planet wandering the markets, and simply sitting, listening in to the local chatter. She even chatted with a few people, using the fact she was new to town, to ask about the community and find out more. The feeling she got was one of a people who were very welcoming to newcomers to their community, many of them were from the area, though a couple had migrated from other parts of their world. The technology was much like Earth of the Late 20th century, but Darcy knew from history, that the social structure of this world was clearly much more inclusive than Earth of that time. It was much more like Earth of the present. While each population center on this world had a great deal of self governance, the world seemed to subscribe to generally the same ideals and social structures, so moving from one community to another did not mean major changes in how people behaved or treated others. Not that it was perfect. While people did seem to go out during the day on their own, she had been asked by several people about if she was single or not, and when she said not, they inquired as to how many partners she had, and even if she and her partners were looking to join into a larger relationship. They did seem to judge on how socially adept people were, and their ability to maintain multiple relationships, and group relationships, was held in high regard. It did make her wonder a bit about what they thought of people who remained single, thus far she hadn't met any. Even the teenagers she ran into were coupled, and the overheard conversation she caught involved discussion about they should be looking for someone else, that they were already falling behind, still being only a couple, after a year, and they appeared to be the Earth equivalent of high school aged.
There was a community event, connected to a holiday that the world celebrated, a festival for love and unity. Almost everything shut down for a long weekend, save for festival related work, which seemed to be rotated through many people in short shifts so everyone could enjoy. It was an ideal time to mingle and learn more, and observe people of interest, but it was expected for people to be there with their relationship groups. Which meant actually having to do some play acting. They all knew their given backstories, what community they had come from and last lived in, and a generalized story of when and how they all met. Steve and Darcy had met first, and Pietro came into the relationship several months later when they met him while out shopping at a market. That information didn't exactly prepare them for behaving as a bonded group.
The evening before the festival weekend, they sat in their home, Pietro was playing some sort of game to amuse himself, he got bored and fidgety easily. Steve had been in the bedroom checking in with the other teams and the ship, while Darcy fixed something to eat. Once the smell of the food started to waft about, Pietro was in the kitchen picking at the food.
“Really? It’s ready and you can’t wait a minute for a plate.” Darcy laughed though.
Pietro just shrugged and grinned. “It’s good. Didn’t know you could cook.”
“You never asked.” Darcy set out plates and just shook her head as Pietro beat her to the first serving. Figured, there was never anyone beating him when it came to speed.
"I guess that was my mistake then. Really good. Thanks for cooking." By the time he spoke, he was already lounging back on the couch with his plate, and digging in.
Darcy didn't mind cooking, but it had really wound up her task by default, because Pietro seemed unable to make anything that needed more effort than a sandwich, and Steve was simply too busy working to do any of the cooking. Pietro had been nice earlier and helped pick up the place, after a few days, messes were starting to accumulate, most of which were Pietro's doing. She was glad he at least picked up after himself, she really didn't want to feel like a maid. Her job was computers and communications, not cooking and cleaning.
After she dished herself out some food, she sat at the table. It was quiet a few minutes, until it felt like Pietro was just staring at her. "What?"
"So, do you think this is how our characters actually have their dinner, or do they all sit around together or something?" The lopsided grin he wore made her smile.
"I don't know, the idea has been to be as much of ourselves as possible, so if you think you'd still like eating dinner, while relaxing on the couch, when in relationship, then I think that's probably how it would work. I wouldn't see anything wrong with it anyway." She laughed just a little bit, and shrugged.
"I haven't bothered with sitting at a table to eat since I was ten, except for when my sister insists on it for some kind of occasion." Pietro had his feet up, and put another bite in his mouth as soon as he'd finished speaking.
"I often don't eat at the table when I'm eating alone, unless I'm eating something hard to eat without a table, and then often a coffee table or end table works as well." The past few evenings, even meal time was often spent in different rooms, or Pietro grabbing something before going out, and Steve getting food and going back into his bedroom to work. She was enjoying talking a little to Pietro. Maybe it would help with meshing better as a group, when they had to be out together the next couple days.
Pietro nodded a he finished chewing. "Sounds like we're compatible enough, at least for this mission. You think the Captain is relaxed enough for eating on the couch?"
"I don't know, you'd have to ask the Captain about that." Darcy's impression of Steve had been that he was professional, intelligent, strong, but did seem to have a sense of humor, so maybe he was relaxed when he wasn't in command. But she'd never seen him off duty to know. The last few days had been all game face, it was a mission. While Steve had told the teams not to call him 'Captain' during this mission, that was the only thing that wasn't on duty about him. Even when he walked through the living room in the morning in his underwear, he still had his 'Captain' face on.
"Ask me about what?" Clearly, neither Darcy, or Pietro had been paying attention to the hallway beyond the living room. Steve was standing there with a curious look.
Both sat up a little straighter. Pietro was the one to respond, though. "In this scenario, would you insist on everyone eating together at the table, or would you be cool to kick back and say eat on the couch or wherever?"
"I'm okay with eating on the couch. Eating wasn't that formal a thing for me growing up." Steve was crossing the room to the food while he spoke, and dished himself out a generous serving. "Getting a better feel for each other is probably a good idea before we all have to appear to be a bonded group tomorrow at the festival."
"That was my thinking." Pietro looked rather proud of himself. Darcy just smirked.
Steve sat down in the living room arm chair, with his food, and smiled. "Okay, we're casual with how we have our meals. Our backstory says we've been together a few years, so we need to appear comfortable with, and knowledgeable about, one another. It's probably a good idea to learn a few things about each other."
The three spent the evening talking and sharing stories and quirks, in hopes they would wake prepared to venture out together. In all their ventures out in the past days, bonded groups did tend to stay close to one another while out, especially ones that were just three or four people. So, their first step in heading out, was to not stray too far as they walked down the road together.
Pietro quickly grabbed Darcy's hand, with a wink and smile. She had to laugh a little at that, but also found the sensation rather nice. Steve was a few steps ahead of them, looking around, ever alert to what was going on. As they approached the heart of the town, there were little market stands everywhere, and they passed along part of a parade route, the smell of food was in the air, and everything seemed colorful.
As tables selling a variety of goods beckoned, they did somewhat wander, Pietro let go of Darcy's hand to check out some silver pendants. She kept wandering a few tables ahead where Steve stopped to taste some food. The world did seem to have great food, most of which at least resembled many Earth cuisines. Darcy had found and made dishes in the last several days that were similar to Italian style pasta, Asian style rice dishes, and something very similar to a bean Chili. There was cheese made from the milk of herbivore mammals that were similar to cows and goats of Earth. They fermented fruits and grains to produce alcoholic beverages. It hadn't been too difficult to adapt to those things for the mission.
When she approached, Steve smiled at her and held up a spoonful of something. "Try this."
She smiled back and with a soft hand curled over his forearm, let him feed her a bite of something that flavor, and texture, wise reminded her of Crème brûlée. She smiled a bit more at the taste and made an 'mmm' sound. Steve watched her the whole time, and she found herself a bit caught in his eyes. "That's really good."
Pietro appeared by her side, seemingly out of nowhere. "What are we eating?"
"Try it, it's really good." Steve didn't feed it to Pietro, but he did hand over the little bit left of the sample portion to him.
They all started moving along as Pietro happily ate the last couple bites, as Steve's hand rested lightly at the small of Darcy's back. She didn't think she should be feeling so warm and flushed from the contact, this was a mission, but it sure felt good. Pietro deposited the spoon and cup in a recycling container. The world was conscious of reusing and repurposing things so as to not waste or pollute. In that way, they were a bit more forward thinking than many nations of Earth had been in the late 20th century.
After an hour of wandering and tasting and watching everything, they ran into Team Three, which was Lt. Com. Hill, Lt. Wilson, and Eng. Wanda Maximoff. Pietro took the chance to catch up a bit with his sister. This world did value family ties, so it was certainly not strange for members of a family to live near by and visit each other, even once they were grown. Steve, Sam, and Maria chatted a bit, while Darcy milled around the nearby booths and tables, looking at all kinds of crafts.
"That would probably look good on you." That was not Steve's usual voice, the one he used on the bridge, or even the one from last night while they all shared stories about themselves. This was soft, but deep, and very near her ear.
Darcy tried to stifle the tremble, but when she caught his eyes, she knew he'd felt it. His hand on her back, and his body close. This was just a mission, wasn't it, that stare felt so real. Her lips parted, but it took her a long moment before she found her voice. "I really like the colors." She had been admiring a knit hat, her fingers still rested on it, though her attention was on Steve.
He picked up the hat and put it on her, she'd seen many people trying things on, she just didn't expect him to put it on her. "The deep red color contrasts nicely with your hair, and your eyes. Think you'll wear it?"
"Thanks. Yeah, I would." Darcy did have a few hats that she wore when she wasn't on duty and could dress as she pleased. She was a fan of knit things, hats, scarves, sweaters.
Steve handed over some of the planet's money to the vendor with a smile, and it was hers. "It does look good on you." His smile was warm, and his gaze lingered on her until Pietro appeared.
"Hey, nice hat." They all seemed to smile around at each other for a moment before silently deciding to continue moving.
Steve kept his hand on her back and seemed to gently keep her close, while Pietro took hold of her hand. Darcy was enjoying it all, but wondering quite a bit about what was real and what wasn't. The rest of the day was no help. The whole festival went on the same way, with lots of sharing of food and both Steve and Pietro whispering in her ear and keeping her close as they wandered around. The next few days at their house weren't anymore help, as it felt like they were both flirting with her, but she wasn't sure if it was all just part of the mission, even though they were in their home base and the locals couldn't see or hear them.
The teams, collectively had found there were three people, from a Federation planet no less, who were, in fact, insinuating themselves into the local governance and society, in order to steal several of the planet's resources for their own personal use, and to be shipped off planet for monetary gain. The cargo ship that arrived was very surprised to find a Starfleet vessel nearby. The crew of the USS Marvel tractor beamed the ship, and arrested the small crew for attempting to steal and smuggle goods, and violation of the Prime Directive. One man, the one that lived near Darcy, Steve, and Pietro, was clearly the leader. The one near Team Three, was the brains, knew where everything was, and how to collect the things they wanted and get them off planet. The other man, was the extra man or maybe the muscle, it seemed, running interference, and had possibly threatened on of the locals into giving the leader some power in the community.
Arresting the people on planet was a little harder to do, as they had to do it without any of the locals noticing, and hopefully without leaving a lot of questions about the person's whereabouts, after the fact. They had caught two of them, the one living near Team Three had taken some inappropriate interest in Wanda, and the team used that to their advantage to get him alone and arrest him. Once aboard ship, the crew also got a full confession from him quickly. Clearly the weak link. Team One, along with Steve, Pietro, and Maria, had caught the second person in the act of trying to fill a large bottle with some water from a local spring, the water had healing and curative properties, very sought after by many races, both within and outside the Federation.
That left the leader of the group, and Darcy had definitely observed the man coming and going at odd hours, and had seen the other two conspirators come and go as well. Darcy had also picked up that he had some surveillance around his dwelling, so any approach on him in his home, would have to be done carefully. They noticed the guy stayed in more and got jumpy after the first guy got caught. When the extra man was caught, they figured they'd have to move quickly, hopefully before he realized the other guy had been caught. They decided to try to get the leader to the extra man's house, but they also wanted to keep eyes on him. So, while Team One waited inside the home, and Sam kept watch on the target's home, Steve, Darcy, and Pietro took a stroll following behind the man from their home to the other guy's home.
It wasn't until they neared the other home, that it appeared the man they were following even noticed them, but he then seemed to get jumpy at the fact they turned down the same road he did. When he turned around, Steve pulled Darcy in for a kiss. The man looked away and continued on, and Steve advised them to hold back. To keep going might make the fellow wary. They waited several minutes to continue slowly along, while Pietro used his speed to get ahead and keep tabs from a distance until Maria was in sight, closer to the destination.
It left Darcy standing there with Steve for a bit, staring at him. He just smiled at her, his expression all warm and soft, and when he put his arm around her, she sank right into his side as they walked along, at least until they reached the home and Steve hurried inside to help deal with the man and coordinate how they would clean up and make it seem the conspirators had all simply left town. Fortunately, Darcy had managed to garner enough from local gossip, that there were locals who felt suspicious of at least one or two of the men. Seeing as the planet valued groupings, single adult men were found to be suspicious in their community.
Pietro emerged from the house first, as Darcy had been left outside to sit on a nearby bench and keep watch on passers by. Make sure no one went in to look around, or over heard anything. He told her they were to go back to the leader's house and get Sam to help them get in and start cleaning up, aka have the man's things beamed out. The teams would also have to begin preparations to slowly leave themselves over the next few days. They thought it less odd than to just vanish themselves. Most of them had indicated to any locals who asked, that they were only in the community for the short term before moving elsewhere.
Pietro held her hand the whole way back and kept pointing out things he'd found he'd liked around town, by way of whispering them in her ear. Between that and the kiss from Steve, Darcy was feeling more than a little dazed. The next few days went smoothly, and word around the community was that people were glad that those strange men had seemed to leave in the night. The three teams departed in reverse order of arrival, and it seemed mostly seamless. None of them had gotten close to anyone on planet, but also hadn't disturbed anyone. It seemed like the whispers and light touches continued, even while in the house, as they wrapped up the mission. She wanted to ask questions, but didn't want to feel stupid for confusing play acting for anything real, if that was all it was. Darcy just hoped when they returned to the ship, from the mission, she'd be able to sort out the truth from the fiction of what she felt like she was feeling from both Steve and Pietro.